Cohn & Wolfe

Report by Donna Imperato

Chief executive officer

ohn & Wolfe continues to run a highly successful business. In 2007 we saw most of our growth in consumer marketing, technology and digital media, while our healthcare practice again handled some of the industry's most high-profile campaigns. Our reputation for brand building and creativity continues to drive our business.

We had a number of notable wins across our network and good organic growth with existing clients. Some of the big names we added in 2007 were adidas, Allianz/Fireman's Fund, Bed, Bath & Beyond, Commerzbank, Danone, Discovery Networks, DeLonghi, Green & Black's, Lilly, Mundipharma, MySpace Canada, Paul Capital Partners and a number of hot, new technology companies like Autonomy, DivX, GridNetworks, LiveStation and Scanbuy.

As businesses look to new markets for growth, we continue to collaborate across our global network with a growing number of multi-office clients, such as Panasonic, Deutsche Gramophone and The Body Shop. We also continue to maximize synergies with our sister agency, GCI Group, which extends our capabilities, insights and reach.

The past year was also our first full year in China and early returns are promising. We added key brands such as Doubletree, Ford, Nike and Nivea. To expedite growth in Asia, we are planning an acquisition in the region.

Digital media continues to have a profound and exciting effect on our industry. In 2007, we created successful social media programs for clients across all practices. Networking, blogger relations, viral videos, podcasts, tag marketing and search engine strategies are applied across a myriad of clients in various industries. And we continue to enhance our offering with client and staff training as well as analytics and reporting.

Our sustainability practice is gaining momentum as evidenced by a growing and diverse client roster and programs like our co-sponsored Green Brands survey, with Landor Associates and Penn, Schoen & Berland, which garnered major media coverage and an invitation to present at a US Environmental Protection Agency conference. Sustainability is also a core competency within our recently launched consultancy business which brings together our agency's top international talent to provide strategic communications advice and support.

Once more, we were listed as one of the best agencies to work for by TheHolmes Report and were lauded for our overall creativity and culture, saying, in part: “Cohn & Wolfe has always stood out among its increasingly homogenized full-service competitors for its fun and creativity.' We also received high marks for employee morale with employees citing the “fun, creative environment' and the “freedom to explore new areas of interest.'

Our prospects for 2008 and beyond are exciting! We are strong in critical growth areas like sustainability and digital and are looking for expansion in both geography and expertise. And delivering on that promise, we announced at the time of going to press, that we had acquired a majority stake in AxiCom, a leading European technology PR agency. The acquisition adds strength and depth to our technology and digital offering and instantly makes us a technology communications force globally, with expertise in the US, Europe and China.

Our global network is bigger, yet more unified than ever. We are implementing a more formal communications program to further knowledge sharing and collaboration internally and to better communicate Cohn & Wolfe's unique story and capabilities to the outside world. And we have a formidable senior team poised and ready to capture the many opportunities around the globe.